Practical perspectives for contemporary legal challenges.
Divorce can be a stressful and emotionally draining time. However, knowing when and how to communicate with your legal team can help to alleviate some of the stress. Here are a few tips for ways to best communicate with your lawyer. Avoid communicating on minor issues that are out of the control of your lawyer. Most …
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The Generation-Skipping Transfer (“GST”) tax is designed to prevent taxpayers from avoiding estate tax on a child’s inheritance at the child’s death by “skipping” inheritances over children to grandchildren. Each person currently has a lifetime GST exemption amount of $11,400,000 (in 2019, and indexed for inflation). If you make a transfer during lifetime or at …
Continue reading “Automatic Allocation of GST Tax Exemption”
A common misperception arises as to when child support amounts change. As a general rule, parents are required to exchange tax returns each year during the period of time that child support is owed. Doing so and keeping an eye on the gross income of both parents can be important in determining whether any action …
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The answer to this question varies by state. There is usually a statute or rule of law directly on point that gives a clear answer. But there are a number of other court decisions and laws that can affect the answer and make it an area worth looking into closely if you are either paying …
You have just come from your lawyer’s office and now wonder whether you really understood everything that was being said. There are special terms used throughout a divorce proceeding that you will hear, and often times as practitioners we forget that the terms, while familiar to us, are not familiar to you. The following is …
Continue reading “Divorce Speech. Understanding the Terminology?”
While having two parents who live not only in the same state, but within a reasonable driving distance from each other is ideal, this may not always be possible. Sometimes a move out of state is necessary due to employment, family, health, or remarriage. Other times, the ability to provide for a better standard of …
Continue reading “6 Factors to Consider When Deciding Relocation in Child Custody Cases”
The length of time you should keep tax records depends on the action, expense, or event which the records will substantiate. Generally, you should keep records until the statute of limitations period for an audit or assessment of that tax return expires: 3 YEARS from the date you filed your original return or 2 years …
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The IRS recently issued a Chief Counsel Memorandum clarifying when a family member of a 2% shareholder in an S corporation is entitled to a deduction under Section 162(l) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) for health plan insurance premiums paid for coverage provided to the family member by the S corporation. Chief Counsel …
A substantially equal parenting time is in effect, and bags are packed. The only problem is that your child is refusing to get into the car to start their parenting time with the other parent. Now what? If your child is resisting going with the other parent, it can first be helpful to determine the …
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Certain qualified retirement plan errors are now easier to fix under the new expanded IRS self-correction procedures. On April 19, 2019, the IRS released the revised Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (“EPCRS”) under Revenue Procedure 2019-9. EPCRS allows employers of all sizes to identify and correct retirement plan errors under the Self-Correction Program (“SCP”), Voluntary …
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